Themeis a broad idea in a story, or a message from the author conveyed by a work. The themes are usually implied rather than stated and it repressents the author's opinion.
The short story "The Dead" works as a summary of James Joyce's other stories, motifs, topics and themes. We can see a reoccuring topic: paralysis, death, love and poverty. James Joyce combined all these reoccuring topics to create a new general theme in "The Dead", as following:
The theme if the short story "The Dead" is that the constant memory of the dead prevent people from progressing
In the short story "The Dead" the characters are faced with memories of deceased relatives or friends constantly during their small conversations on the dance hall or on the dining table. The people attending the Morkan's Annual Dance mentioned the deaths of a singer Parkinson, Kate and Julia Morkan's brother and his horse, and ultimately the main character Gabriel is faced with a revelation of the death of his wife's former lover, Michael Furey.
During dinner, Freddy Malins' mother opened up a conversation on monks living in the underground, who wake up at two in the morning and sleep in their coffins. These monks do not progress with the world as they constantly remind themselves of their approaching death.
The monks are truly unique characters because they remember of their inevitable death by living in the same place as the deceased and never progressing with the rest of the world. The example of the monks show the readers how humans can be related with the deceased and that their resistance to develop is merely because they fear the possibility of succumbing to the mortal values and to forget that one day everyone will die.
In their trip back to the hotel, Gabriel thought of the romantic relationship he had with his wife while she was thinking in her own world. In their hotel room, however, Gretta confesed that the song Mr. Bartell D'Arcy sang "The Lass of Aughrim" reminded her of her dead lover. Although Gretta's sweetheart died when they were only seventeen, she cannot forget how he sacrificed his life just to make sure that she could see him they day before she left her hometown. And thus Gretta could not find the strength to forget the past and move on to a better life with Gabriel as he had wished it. Inspite of all the romantic plans he had for his sweet wife Gretta, Gabriel found himself unable to "escape from their lives and duties" as he had presumed because his wife was constantly captivated with the death of her first lover.
The theme of paralysis preventing people from progressing has occured several times in the novel Dubliners, but James Joyce's application of death in many of the characters, especially Michael Furey, has provided the readers a more specific understanding of the different types of paralysis a character can live in. In "The Dead", the death of many people have provoked the readers to think of death as a part of the life of the people in Dublin as the living are also living in a monotonous life because of their memory of their deceased relatives, friends or lovers.
This theme moreover is also the epiphany of the main character of the short story, Gabriel Conroy. James Joyce is well-known with the epiphanies of his characters an more than once they also represent the theme of the respective stories. Gabriel Conroy showed how his wife's memory of her dead lover has struck him so awfully that he self-realized that the death of a person in the past has prevented him from having a romantic relationship with his wife. Therefore his epiphany is also the general theme of the short story.
Although "The Dead" is not an autobiography, James Joyce implied a lot of aspects of the stories from his life. For example, this theme might have also occured because Joyce himself has seen the paralysis of Dublin and he was also afraid of the possibility of Nora pre-occupying herself with her past lovers.
James Joyce applied this theme more as a criticism to the citizens of Dublin rather than as a fact. He might want to send the message that if the people in Dublin do not stop their tedious life soon and their relativity to all things dead, they might end up buried underneath the snow that "fall upon all the living and the dead". His message is clearly stated and is effective, especially thanks to the constant mention of the deceased and several more anecdotes, such as Uncle Morkan's horse that travelled around and around in a circle, never progressing.
Theme
Theme is a broad idea in a story, or a message from the author conveyed by a work. The themes are usually implied rather than stated and it repressents the author's opinion.The short story "The Dead" works as a summary of James Joyce's other stories, motifs, topics and themes. We can see a reoccuring topic: paralysis, death, love and poverty. James Joyce combined all these reoccuring topics to create a new general theme in "The Dead", as following:
The theme if the short story "The Dead" is that the constant memory of the dead prevent people from progressing
In the short story "The Dead" the characters are faced with memories of deceased relatives or friends constantly during their small conversations on the dance hall or on the dining table. The people attending the Morkan's Annual Dance mentioned the deaths of a singer Parkinson, Kate and Julia Morkan's brother and his horse, and ultimately the main character Gabriel is faced with a revelation of the death of his wife's former lover, Michael Furey.
During dinner, Freddy Malins' mother opened up a conversation on monks living in the underground, who wake up at two in the morning and sleep in their coffins. These monks do not progress with the world as they constantly remind themselves of their approaching death.
The monks are truly unique characters because they remember of their inevitable death by living in the same place as the deceased and never progressing with the rest of the world. The example of the monks show the readers how humans can be related with the deceased and that their resistance to develop is merely because they fear the possibility of succumbing to the mortal values and to forget that one day everyone will die.
In their trip back to the hotel, Gabriel thought of the romantic relationship he had with his wife while she was thinking in her own world. In their hotel room, however, Gretta confesed that the song Mr. Bartell D'Arcy sang "The Lass of Aughrim" reminded her of her dead lover. Although Gretta's sweetheart died when they were only seventeen, she cannot forget how he sacrificed his life just to make sure that she could see him they day before she left her hometown. And thus Gretta could not find the strength to forget the past and move on to a better life with Gabriel as he had wished it. Inspite of all the romantic plans he had for his sweet wife Gretta, Gabriel found himself unable to "escape from their lives and duties" as he had presumed because his wife was constantly captivated with the death of her first lover.
The theme of paralysis preventing people from progressing has occured several times in the novel Dubliners, but James Joyce's application of death in many of the characters, especially Michael Furey, has provided the readers a more specific understanding of the different types of paralysis a character can live in. In "The Dead", the death of many people have provoked the readers to think of death as a part of the life of the people in Dublin as the living are also living in a monotonous life because of their memory of their deceased relatives, friends or lovers.
This theme moreover is also the epiphany of the main character of the short story, Gabriel Conroy. James Joyce is well-known with the epiphanies of his characters an more than once they also represent the theme of the respective stories. Gabriel Conroy showed how his wife's memory of her dead lover has struck him so awfully that he self-realized that the death of a person in the past has prevented him from having a romantic relationship with his wife. Therefore his epiphany is also the general theme of the short story.
Although "The Dead" is not an autobiography, James Joyce implied a lot of aspects of the stories from his life. For example, this theme might have also occured because Joyce himself has seen the paralysis of Dublin and he was also afraid of the possibility of Nora pre-occupying herself with her past lovers.
James Joyce applied this theme more as a criticism to the citizens of Dublin rather than as a fact. He might want to send the message that if the people in Dublin do not stop their tedious life soon and their relativity to all things dead, they might end up buried underneath the snow that "fall upon all the living and the dead". His message is clearly stated and is effective, especially thanks to the constant mention of the deceased and several more anecdotes, such as Uncle Morkan's horse that travelled around and around in a circle, never progressing.
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For further links on theme of The Dead, please click below:
http://www.novelguide.com/Dubliners/themeanalysis.html
http://www.glue.umd.edu/~sschreib/autumn_02/investigations/the_dead.html